Adrenaline Films’ Post

🤝 Building a strong network is crucial for indie filmmakers. Here's your networking action plan: 1. Reach out to three industry professionals you admire. Ask for a 15-minute video call to learn from their experience. 2. Join two filmmaking groups on LinkedIn and actively participate in discussions. 3. Attend one local film event this month. Set a goal to make three meaningful connections. Remember, networking isn't about what others can do for you—it's about building mutually beneficial relationships. What's your best networking tip for fellow filmmakers? #FilmCommunity #NetworkingTips

💡 Strategy Alert: Collaborate with other creators! Cross-promote, share resources, and build a community around your film project. Networking is key to finding support and expanding your reach. #FilmMaking #CreativeCollaboration

📢Are you a youth worker? In partnership with National Youth Agency, join us for a FREE webinar on Wednesday 25 September 2024 to learn how you can guide young people through the filmmaking process and inspire them to tell their stories through film🎬 Learn more below and enrol now!

Imho, priority should be on creating safe and sustainable spaces for local creative expression, wherever they may be in the country. More in my new article below https://lnkd.in/gPdKKZ_i P.S. Will be exploring this and other ideas for sustainable filmmaking in a zoom discussion next week hosted by Fieldwork Studio. Details in my previous post.

💡 Strategy Alert: Collaborate with other creators! Cross-promote, share resources, and build a community around your film project. Networking is key to finding support and expanding your reach. #FilmMaking #CreativeCollaboration

I'm looking forward to attending this deep-dive free offering from The Film Collaborative next week -- a two-day virtual event with 8 sessions to help you demystify distribution. Topics include: What are “all rights” buyers looking for? Is a hybrid/bifurcated distribution strategy that includes the EU possible, and for which films? Which Educational distributors are out there, for what types of films, and how do you find the one that is the best fit? How should you incorporate an Educational window into your overall distribution strategy? What steps can you take to make exhibitions of your film more accessible and inclusive? What does it mean when festival “hits” are not receiving correspondingly “meaningful” distribution sales offers? Can clinging to the potentially unrealistic dream of a big streaming or all rights deal risk your film’s ability to secure other meaningful distribution? What should you look out for when signing a distribution agreement? Plus, we will be presenting Case Studies on Event Theatrical and Grassroots/Impact Distribution. There’s something for everyone…and it’s free. Register here: https://lnkd.in/dXBEKPfH

Here are our five #filmfestival (FF) tips + one bonus track to increase your own project #impact campaign. In 2023, we got the chance to be selected at 95 FF and got 21 awards in total, in more than 35 countries. Was this "chance" or did we build a successful plan? Hope this helps! 1. Try the doc "A league" FF: First thing first, you of course try to get into the big doc FF: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) , DOC NYC, Sheffield DocFest, CPH:DOX. There are about 20. Try this early, when you have a rough cut ready! Bear in mind that the Sundance Institute FF got about 15.000 films per year (!) when they select only 1%. Use your contacts to try moving up the pile! Of course, monitor as well the B league with 50 great doc FF around the world! 2. Go thematic FF too! After a few months of A and B leagues strategy, adapt it. See what are the main topics of your film and impact campaign. In our case, we could apply to 5 types of FF: #environmnet, #humanrights, #womenrights, #indigenousrights and #LatinAmerican films. What are yours? What are the best FF for your film? Check these networks for instance: Green Film Network ( https://lnkd.in/e93au76a ) or Human rights film network ( https://lnkd.in/evffPwcJ ) 3. Be lazy... We used key submission platforms like FilmFreeway, Festhome LTD. as they do fasten the process for about 10% of the submission price. On average, count about 20 € per FF. Yet, many FF are not in there so you need to search with keywords too. 4. ... but not too much ;) Send your film in the first weeks of the call so the FF team will review it early .This increases the chance! Build your opening calls list and know the FF calendar for the next 12 months! Note : "Extended deadlines" are a waste of money, unless you have amazing contacts. FF have often made up their mind on the programmation by then! 5. Send a note to the FF programmers! What is your story beyond the story? If you do impact, tell it to the FF team. It will add value to your film, even more for thematic FF. 🎁 Bonus track: think out of the box, beyond FF! We went to 30 political venues, with the amazing help of NGOs: European Parliament, United Nations, Assemblée nationale, UN Biodiversity, OECD-OCDE, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), etc. Where shoud you go to: Museums? Music FF? Be creative! 🌱 See the list where THE ILLUSION OF ABUNDANCE, made with Erika González Ramírez, got selected to. Join our impact tour for defenders! https://lnkd.in/eRzbhHpk ❤️ Thanks to our protagonists, team and partners in this journey for the protection of environmental defenders. Enjoy the break and CU in 2024 for more impact! 🌱 Best with your projects! 🙌 #womeninfilm #filmindustry First Hand Films , FIFDH Genève, Sunny Side of the Doc , Documentary Campus, EAVE European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs, European Film Academy, Wallonie Bruxelles Images, Docuseek

You make a short film, it doesn't get into the festivals you wanted, you post it to YouTube then you get an email from Darren Aronofsky. That happened to Wesley Wang. I understand this is an outlier scenario, but it could be the beginning of a new trend. A few things that helped Wesley in making a successful short film. The two main actors had a combined Instagram following of 2 million. The film was made by Gen Z, about Gen Z, for Gen Z. He knew his story and his audience. However, the story feels a bit timeless too. I'm a 40 year old millennial, and I could see my youth in that film. He used Indiegogo to raise $15,000 then worked part time to raise nearly another $30K to get to his production budget of $45K. After the film didn't get into festivals he had hoped for, he sent it to producers and studios, but heard nothing back. So he decides to just post it on YouTube where it spreads and those same producers and studios are now reaching back out to him. The short film is now a proof of concept for a feature film. That is the next step in the journey. Wesley will write and direct a feature off of the story of his short film. At the moment studios are looking for new IP, new talent, and new ways to reach audiences. If you have a good story, that is told well, that reaches an audience, that can be the trifecta of content studios are looking for. Maybe they just like the story/IP. Maybe the just like your talent as a filmmaker. As Lucas Shaw mentions in the interview as well, like studios option books, magazine articles, and even podcasts ⤵ They are in the acquisition business. They want new material that will sell. New talent that can reach new audiences is even better. One last takeaway - in the interview Wesley says he made 21 short films before this one. Each time you make a short film you learn a lot and you grow an audience. If nothing else, hone your skill and grow your audience. Even if the studios don't come knocking - you can use that audience to earn a revenue and continue on your filmmaking journey. Instead of sharing the short film I decided to share an interview with Wesley as I thought this video would be more insightful and useful.

How do you get your short seen by the people who need to see it? So we’ve created the CenterFrame Industry Showcase, in partnership with Tysers Live and Simons Muirhead Burton LLP. Every three months, we select three exceptional short films and screen them to a cinema full of Producers, Agents, Distributors and broadcasters, and if your film is selected, you can attend the screening and meet them. Who will be there? Searchlight Pictures, Recorded Picture Company, Hanway Films, Casarotto Ramsay, United Agesnts, Wychwood media, Tea Shop Pictures, and more. Does it cost to submit? Submission is Free. Because we believe opportunities like this need to have zero barriers for entry. So do you have a short that should get seen? It’s simple: 1. Register on CenterFrame and create a profile. 2. Post your film to our FILMS section That’s it. Click here to learn more: https://lnkd.in/eR7J88TA

What I Learned (Observed) at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival #1 Here are some random thoughts that I had while at the conference. More experienced filmmakers may have already observed this, but I’m just sharing what I observed. ✅Marketing, and distribution for that matter, can be challenging for independent filmmakers. ✅I have attended other festivals and conferences such as Sundance, Real Screen West, and the American Film Market where I noticed that filmmakers would email the participants prior to their screening. I wonder if that can be considered a small, but effective, strategy in the marketing plan.🤔 ✅Many independent filmmakers have small teams or are the sole person actively working on their team. Marketing is time-consuming and requires organization and strategic planning. ❓Any thoughts from filmmakers or other creatives who have noticed this or have experience with marketing and distribution? #HotDocs2024 #filmdistribution #filmmarketing